A Beautiful Kind of Hell
by Terminal lance
Summary: The council sends out expeditions to discover the galaxy beyond the relays, they find what remains of earth. Fueled by her curiosity and her drive to discover, Liara joins the first ill fated ground team to set foot on earth. With the help of an unexpected ally she must find her way home and survive what she calls a beautiful kind of hell, the ruins of Moscow and its dark tunnels
1. Chapter 1

**This is a mass effect and metro 2033 series crossover, the first so I hope that everyone enjoys the first chapter. I would love some constructive criticism as well as ideas and things you as readers would want to see in this story such as characters, places and any other ideas you have. So without further ado, enjoy the opening of Mass Effect: A Beautiful Kind Of Hell**

Captain Tenala walked through the halls of her ship, the _Discovery, _she was happy as they were finally nearing their goal the other side of relay link. A few weeks before their long journey the councils program to discover more garden worlds and resource rich systems had gone to the relay they had launched from and examined its signals and the group of salarain and Asari scientists had discovered the relay linked to another prime relay. The committee for expansion and exploration had gotten permission from the council to dispatch an exploration craft to reach the prime relay, the council was hasn't about the proposal but the dwindling amount of resources and viable colony planets was shrinking and as the golden age for the council races continued they need more room so the councilors reluctantly with caution gave them permission to search the prime relay out. The committee then contacted Tenala, she had a reputation for being one of the best captains in the exploration field and had discovered many new resource rich planets and naturally her and her crew jumped at the chance to discover an entire new relay system and go beyond what most other people would ever go. The _Discovery _had left the embrace of the citadel full of supplies and now after six months of FTL flight they had finally arrived in the unknown system.

Tenala stepped on to the bridge of her ship and walked onto the command pedestal in the middle of the COC. She put her hands on the railing and leaned forward as the crew worked, her xo approached her, a Turian named Trexo. She looked at the black skinned turian the red facial markings were quite striking, and he wore what appeared to be the turian version of a smile.

"Captain, we are ready to drop from FTL" the helmsmen said "we are at the edge of the system"

"Understood Savan" Tenala said smiling "Me'ana, get me a visual please"

"Aye, aye captain" the Asari crew member said as she pulled up the main display as the ship dropped out of FTL at the edge of the newly discovered system. Tenala looked at the sea of unfamiliar stars, she swelled with pride for her crew had done it again and they now set on the edge of a new system. The Asari captain looked down at her xo, a beaming smile on her face.

"Trexo, let's see what this system has for us" Tenala said as she looked back at the visual display "Savan, get our navigation systems primed for the new system, Fenris get us some course ready, Me'ana let's see about finding our route home"

The crew let out an eye captain and the officers set about with their tasks, directing their teams to get working and in a few minutes the discovery roared to life as Savan set out towards the first planet class body in the system. Meanwhile the display changed as Trexo brought up the display of the system map that had been made using the ships long range scanners. Tenala examined the map with the eye of an investigator; she was looking for any sort of anomalies that would give her any clue as to where she starts her initial exploration.

"Trexo, care to brief me?" she asked crossing her arms with her eyes locked on the map.

Trexo chuckled for a second before he spoke up "Of course skipper" he said as he used the display controls to highlight the different features of the system "the system is a single star based system, it's of middle age and the sun is stable. It has eight celestial bodies that fall into the planet category with the largest being a gas giant on the far side of the systems asteroid belt that divides the system in half. The inner four planets are all terrain planets and initial scans reveal that three are sitting in the support zone, with one being in the prime zone for supporting life. The outer planets are all gas giants with moons that can qualify as small dwarf planets, until we scan them using the resource scanner we won't be able to tell if we found a gold mine or not"

"Well, we can do that on a return trip with more ships" Tenala said happily "and we are definitely returning to the system I can promise you that"

"Good, the crew found it so we deserve to explore it" Trexo said as the discovery soared through the void, Tenala looked at the map more.

"Any sign of advanced life?" she asked Trexo her curiosity evident in her voice.

"Well, hard evidence we don't have since we will need to examine the garden world to find out" Trexo said "but I think there is some evidence to indicate the possibility" he high light the third planet from the systems sun "The garden world has high levels of radiation which could mean that the planet is rich with radioactive resources, it has little atmosphere and has been irradiated from exposure or that its inhabitants destroyed themselves"

"That is worth looking into, after we arrive at the first planet then I want a course laid in for the garden world and let's see what we have" Tenala said, she pulled out her Omni tool and start to go over the reports and inventory lists for her ship, they were running low on supplies and needed to get back to the citadel. Spending a long time here wouldn't be possible and they couldn't spare anyone on a surface excursion as the council had to authorize it and they had not yet given them approval for ground operations. The Asari captain started to plan how she would be able to ensure the crew got their due and was the ship that explored the newly found garden world, she had a plan and hoped that the committee would approve of it and grant her the right of exploration on the planet. She was in thought as her ship dropped out from FTL at the first planet, she looked out the upper view port at the massive ball of blue gasses, and it was beautiful with its shades of blue and thin wisps of white.

"We have arrived at the first planet in the system" Savan said happily over the intercom. Tenala knew that all of her crew that was off duty or not on the bridge had crowded the viewports to get a look at their discovery. She stared at the planet with a sense of awe, this was why she loved being an explorer, and the galaxy was a beautiful place and around every corner was something new, strange, and beautiful. She finally snapped out of her gaze and set about giving the crew their marching orders, she keyed the ship wide intercom channel.

"Crew, this is your captain speaking" Tenala said with pride "we have discovered a new system; once again we have pushed the limits of our known galaxy and braved the void. I am proud of every single one of you for your hard work and dedication" she paused "our work is not yet done here, we have supplies for a few weeks more so we don't have much time. We found a garden planet in this system which as we have right of discovery I have decided to name Sol, in honor of our engineer Eve vas Discovery's late mother. Once we are done at Sol-3 we will headed back to the citadel for some well-deserved shore leave, refit refuel and come back with more ships and people to fully explore the system" the crew clapped a bit "oh, and first rounds on me" with the captains words the crew erupted in cheers and their leader just chuckled as the crew of the Discovery set about with the necessary tasks to reach Sol-3.

Kirill woke with a start from the bed in the stalker outpost on the surface, he was covered in cold sweat and breathing heavy as his nightmares plagued him again. He slowly get his breathing under control and sat up while swinging his legs over the side of the bed, his feet touched the cold ground and he put his head in hands. He took a few deep breaths before shaking his head and standing up he rolled his shoulders, the six scars on his back rippled as he stretched his back out. The young man grabbed his telnyashka, a white and blue stripped tank top, and pulled it on over his head. He turned on the light in the small outpost; it had been made a few years ago by the stalker group in Tretyakovskaya station, also known as Venice. They had built it inside what was once a meat freezer inside a warehouse, it had been quite the endeavor to install the air filter but once it was complete in a day they had a functioning safe haven. The next step was to make an airlock which they achieved by building a room up and then using an old door from the warehouse to make a small airlock. From there the stalkers had set about putting furniture in and water supplies, rain catchers with filters provided the outpost with water while an old generator had been rigged up to use the roof mounted windmill to power the small home.

Kirill was reaping the benefits of this particular outpost currently as he walked over to the sink and filled it with water. He splashed some on his face, it was cold but fresh and clean. He looked at himself in the dusty mirror, it had a few cracks in it but he was able to examine his self. His long hair was wiry and wet from his nightmare, and water rolled down his thin face. His high cheek bones and sharp jaw had light stubble on them while his strong chin had a bit thicker hair on it along with his mustache giving him a goatee but with his cheeks having stubble. His cross necklace hung off his moderate neck and got the light, the dog tags that his father had given him as child clinked against the silver cross and each other. He pushed himself off the sink, the muscle in his arms rippled under his skin thought the definition in his right arm was harder to see from the full sleeve tattoo he had. The tattoo he got while in Treatra, the last major old world culture center in the metro. It was good work, black and gray colors making a mural that covered his arm and depicted the seven deadly sins each in the visage of a woman, all of them beautiful but at the same terrible. He looked eyes with himself, which were his most striking feature or if one believed the Reich, mutation. His left eye was a green, not dark or light somewhere in the middle while his right was a bright blue.

"Tak, Tak, Tak" he said aloud thinking to himself "you can't even go one night with good sleep dorogoy" he stepped back from the sink and went over to the bed and sat down. He grabbed his boots and pulled them on his feet. The Russian man got dressed; he pulled on a black long sleeve shirt, his leather jacket and grabbed his belt that had his gear on it. He looked around the outpost for a second as he grabbed his survival pack and threw it on his back, next came a large back that had all the stuff he had scavenged from the area. He had grabbed some more books as always and some medical equipment, which the clinic was always in great need for. He also had grabbed some oddities for some of the citizens of Venice, a clock for Inga, an old slide projector and he even managed to find a few boxes of slides for it, and he made sure to grab some toys for the children. Some of the kids called him Santa as he always brought back toys for them if he could. He went to the door of the airlock and looked back at the outpost, the rusty bed frame with an old mattress on it, the yellowing sink, cracked mirror the makeshift stove and the wardrobe that was useful for gear storage.

"Well until next time" he said to no one but himself, the outpost was like a second home to him. He quickly checked his revolver that sat in the leather holster on his hip, the weapon was loaded and clean. He grabbed his small carbine, a heavily modified lowlife pistol, and opened the door to the air lock. He closed the heavy door behind him and took his last breath of fresh air for a while. He grabbed his gas mask from the cabinet on the wall and pulled it over his face. He pulled it on tight and gave the filter a check before setting his watches timer for an hour, the time before his next filter change. He scowled as he grabbed the handle to the outer door and swung it open into the warehouse. The young Russian man pushed the heavy door closed behind him and heard the filter getting to work as it cleaned the airlocks air out. He shouldered his carbine and set off in the darkness of the ruined warehouse, he clung to the side. He looked up at the night sky through the massive holes in the tin roof; the sky was clear tonight and the starts shown bright with hope. He moved quietly along the abandoned shelves of boxes, his eyes watching all the time for threats. He heard the roar of watchmen off the distance like the howl of a wolf; he stopped for a second as the pack answered back.

"Ah Suki, not close" he said to himself and he started off again walking carefully out into the open. He ran over to a tree and pinned himself to it in the shadows, he took a moment and looked around the landscape around him. The once proud city of Moscow was now a ruin, the buildings were falling apart, destroyed cars littered the landscape that was covered in snow currently as it was winter in Russia and god had seen fit to blanket the city in white. It was beautiful and yet sad at the same time as nature was taking her land back from humanity while the ruins rose out of the ground, tributes to humanities great achievements, but also as monuments to their greed and hate. The snow glittered in the moon light; its white color seemed to return some sort of purity to the world. The many buildings that stood in disarray had many types of new plants that had come from the mutations of the radiation covering them, vines covered in bright red, blue and yellow colors climbed the walls and spires of the ruined city as if reaching for heaven. The patches of clear, blue ice reflected the night sky in its vast star speckled sea of black. The structures of mankind ever reaching for them, off in the distance stood Saint Basils Cathedral, its tall, towering spires were now home to the demons that hunted the wasteland of Moscow. One of the four legged; almost wolf like creatures was soaring around it in the distance on its large black wings. Its call echoed through the city from the distance, the world that lay before Kirill was old and yet new, dangerous and mysterious and beautiful, a beautiful kind of hell. Those thoughts however didn't grace Kirill's mind currently, he was more focused on his survival.

Kirill's ears and eyes were hard at work, he could hear watchmen in the distance to the south of him, thankfully the entrance to the tunnels he wanted was north thankfully and he didn't hear the telltale sound of demons wings and he stood up, he couldn't see any threats currently moving in the area in front of him. He took a few steps down the slope from the entrance of the warehouse, his boots crunching on the snow and small bellows of steam coming from the filter of his gas mask with every breath. He heard a strange sound and looked up to see the last thing he expected to see.

Tenala stood in the cockpit of her ship next to the helmsmen, a turian named Savan. The discovery soared closer to the blue planet in the distance, the gracefully Asari craft with its long sweeping wings and smooth lines glided past the planets single moon. Trexo stood nearby and looked up at the moon as they flew past, he couldn't see any evidence that it had ever been touched which meant that the any life on the planet had yet to reach the moon and colonize it. The ship began to orbit the moon, the top of the ship oriented towards the ground as they did a visual pass over Sol-3's moon.

"I don't see any evidence that it was ever colonized" Tenala said as she watched the grey surface zoom by in the overhead view port.

"Scans reveal that there are no structures on the surface of the moon" Trexo said optimistically, his hopes high for their mission as pored over reports about Sol-3, it had an atmosphere which left two of the three hypotheses that he had developed. The _Discovery _completed its orbit and shoot forward towards the planet, its land masses in its bright blue oceans were beautiful. Tenala watched happily as the ship moved closer, she placed a hand on Savan's shoulder.

"Take us in slow" the captain said as the helmsman slowed the ship and it drifted gently towards the planet "Trexo what do scans show?"

"Well, there is life down there but judging from the lack of light build up on the dark side of the planet then I seriously doubt that its intelligent" the turian XO said "we have located some major radiation pockets which is evident of element Zero, and some other very valuable resources, I say let's start with those to see what we can find"

"I agree, we will move from the dark side to the light side of the planet" Tenala said with pride as she patted Savan's shoulder "let's move Savan, I want you to impress me"

The _discovery _roared to life and moved down into the planet's atmosphere over a massive expanse of land towards the top of a planet. Tenala watched through the view port as the discovery broke cloud cover and soared above the planet's surface. Savan was in awe as he looked at the ground covered in white, and off in the distance raised a city. As they drew closer they could see that it was a ruin, decrypted buildings falling apart, no lights, nothing to indicate life on the surface below.

Tenala was speechless as she looked at the ruins below them, she ran back to the main display of the ships COC. She worked the controls and brought up the display, most of the crew had abandoned their stations and had gathered around the screen, they were all discussing the discovery of a lifetime. Trexo walked up to Tenala, his gaze was in awe.

"I was hoping to find a gold mine but this…" Tenala said her voice shaky with astonishment at their discovery "this was something beyond what I could have hoped for" the Asari was beaming with a wide smile on her face as the ship stopped and hovered in place over a large open square in the ruins of what was surly once a great city but now was an equally amazing ruin. The main under mounted camera scanned the area, the darkness made it hard to make out shapes of things but they could see shapes and outlines.

"Get the lights on" one of the crew said eager to get a better view of the landscape below and the massive spotlights beamed to life and began to scan the ground following the cameras view. The light revealed even more, the remains of primitive vehicles, the ruined buildings; some of the local wildlife looked up as the light hit them and ran off. The crew watched as the ship moved over the ground scanning the area the entire time it was recording the main camera. Tenala watched the screen closely with bated breath waiting for anything, something extraordinary to show itself or happen.

Kirill looked up to see a strange sight and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head at what he saw. A large ship of some kind, white in color was hovering over the square. It had long sweeping wings that drew into another point at the bow, the stern was a long sweeping tail it looked elegant and beautiful. Kirill sprang into action, his feet moving as fast as he could as he half sprint half stumbled up the embankment and dove into the small cut in the ground and pinned himself against the wall of dirt making sure to stay in the shadow of the tree.

"Damn it, blin" he said his mind overwhelmed with what he was seeing. He had managed to get a control of himself and took a deep breath before he quickly formed a plan and set himself into action. He checked where the ship was quickly with a fast turkey peak, the white craft was still holding its position over the square. He ducked down and got as low as he could and used his elbows, knees and feet to low crawl over the snow covered ground. He took it slow, rolling his shoulders to move his elbows forward just how Simon had taught him. He low crawled through the ditch, making sure to keep in the shadow so whatever the thing was in the sky wouldn't see him and do god knows what. The entire time the ship just hovered above him like some sort of predatory insect searching for it's pray. He inched forward on his belly until he was able to slide into the drain pipe and not a moment too soon as massive spotlights sprang to life and began to search the area. He was breathing fast but his mind was calm and he came up with a plan and he slowly moved along the pipe keeping low to the ground, he came to an opening in the top of the pipe and he peaked out to see the ship still there with the lights moving around one passed over him fast. He ducked back as soon as the light hit him and he took a quick breath. He quickly moved across the gap and continued to move, he heard the same strange sound again and the ship moved towards the south at a slow rate while Kirill moved north slowly and staying low, in cover. He finally came to the other side of the square and looked back at the ship as it continued to move south, some demons had taken interest in the strange craft and were circling around it. Kirill pulled himself out of the drain pipe and climbed up behind a dumpster and watched the white craft as it moved gracefully across the sky.

"Svyatoye der'mo" He said aloud shocked as he watch the ship move across the "I can't believe what my eyes are seeing right now" the young man watched the ship until he heard a sound behind him and whipped around to see two watchmen slink up towards him he raised his carbine. The watchmen stopped and raised their spines and got low to the ground, the dark fur on their back standing on end as they glared at Kirill.

"Legkiye druz'ya" he said a bit startled but hopeful that the mutants would leave him be and that he wouldn't have to put them down. As the man backed up slowly the watch men growled at him before the one on the left roared before jumping. Kirill acted quickly as he snapped the carbine up and delivered two quick shoots, the suppressor on the end of the gun keep the shoots silent as the two rounds hit the watchmen in the head and the mutants dropped to the ground, Kirill sighed and didn't see the third one that leapt out from the shadows and tackled Kirill to the ground. He yelled out in shock and rage as the beast pinned him to the ground, it roared in his face and he pushed its head back with one hand while the other drew his knife and plunged it to the hilt in the creature's neck. It roared in pain as it shuddered and fell off Kirill. The Russian stood up and pulled the knife from the creatures neck and whipped the blood on creatures fur, he picked up his gun and sheathed his knife. He dropped to a knee and placed a hand in the dead watchmen's head and closed its eyes.

"Ya proshu proshcheniya friend" he said standing "it was you or me"

The Russian looked back out in the square, he didn't see the ship anymore and he walked on in the darkness. The entrance to the tunnel he need wasn't far now, he just had to cross the swamp. He came to the edge of the wetland and grumbled as he started to walk along the logs that had been laid out to act as a bridge. He kept his balance and his weapon up as he jogged across the logs and came out by the old wreaked gas station; he jumped out on to the solid ground. He grunted as he staggered and almost hit a wall. He caught himself and pushed off the wall and started the last leg of his journey, a short but dangerous walk to the entrance down into Venice. He stalked slowly forward; he could hear the sounds of the various creatures that populated the swamp moving about in the blackness. He could see the small brick building that held the entrance to the underground city; he looked around and took off at a run. He sprinted up the hill and when he came to the steep part and he grabbed the ladder that was there. He quickly scaled it hand over hand, he heard the sound of heavy wings. The same demon that had been there three days ago when he had left was still stalking around. The creature was watching with its sharp eyes over its hunting ground and roared when it spotted the human climbing the ladder below.

Kirill heard the roar of the flying monster and climbed even faster. He got to the top of ladder finally and not a moment too soon jumped into the building as the demon smashed into the ground behind him, it roared at the human in anger that its meal had evaded it. Kirill whipped around and aimed his carbine at it, he fired a few shoots and the demon shrunk back in pain as the three rounds hit the creature in the side. It back up and let out a series of roars and growls in pain and fear, its calls were empty of the anger and pride that the species was famous for. Kirill stepped at it aggressively while yelling, the demon back up more and Kirill took another step he yelled at it again. The creature flapped its leathery wings and took off to go back to its nest to lick its wounds and its pride. Kirill smiled happy he didn't have to kill it, he could tell by its size and lack of understanding how to come after humans that it was a young one.

"That's right, you run you monster!" he yelled after with as much aggression as he could muster. He chuckled as he walked over to the large grate. He grabbed the handle and grunted as he pulled the heavy cover of the ladder well. The trapdoor groaned as it stopped itself from moving back. Kirill looked around once before he grabbed the ladder and climbed into the hole, he made sure to grab the rope on the door and pull it shut over his head. The ladder well was dark as he climbed the hundred feet or so down. He finally reached the bottom and stepped into the room, it was just a small service room and he removed his gas mask and dropped the hood of his jacket and took a deep breath of fresh air. He smiled as he walked towards the security checkpoint that had been set up in the old warehouse. He saw two of the local guards at the post; one was behind the mounted gun while the other had his arms crossed and was leaning up against the checkpoints doorway. They heard him coming and the man in the door looked at him, he stepped out of the door way as Kirill walked up to him.

"Zvat' Kirill how as the surface this time?" the guard asked as the stalked stopped on the other side of the door and sat down in the chair.

"It was as usual, dangerous, terrible and beautiful at the same time" Kirill said sitting down on a soft chair "ah, that's better" he dropped his heavy bag by his feet "so what is going on Dimity?"

"not much priyatel, my youngest, Sasha" he said as he lit a cigarette and held the case out to Kirill who took one "she turns eight in two days and I have nothing to get her, I feel terrible but I can't afford to get her anything after we bought that goat off the Hanza traders last week"

"Yeah, they ask for good money but the goat will pay for itself with the milk. Keep half and sell the other half" the other guard, Mikael said "if she likes the goat tells her that it was her present"

"Ty shutish?" Dimity said "I can't do that, it's cheap and she's my little girl what am I supposed to do? Her brother got his first gun for his birthday I can't just give her a goat"

Kirill opened up his bag of scavenged goods and opened it up he dug around until he found what he was looking for. He pulled it out and thankfully it was intact, he handed the small box to Dimity.

"Take it" Kirill said and the guardsmen took it hesitantly. He opened it and the sound of music filled the room, a small ballerina figurine spun in the center of the box and inside was a necklace. Dimity looked up at Kirill his face was alight.

"Are you sure Kirill?" he asked "you could get a lot for this when the traders come back"

"I'm sure" the stalker said as he stood up and put a hand on the man's shoulder "making your daughter is worth more than a few bullets"

"You are a good man Kirill, if you ever need anything and I mean anything don't be afraid to ask me" Dimity said as Kirill lit his cigarette and leaned against the wall crossing his right foot over his left and his arms.

"I'll hold you to that" he said chuckling. Dimity laughed and Mikael shook his head where he sat behind the gun.

"So anything happen on the surface?" Dimity asked the echo of his laugh still on his voice "you know besides the usual"

"You mean besides nearly getting my face ripped off by mutants?" Kirill asked as he took a drag on his cigarette "well a demon is flying around the swamp again"

"Blin, another one?" Dimity said aggravated "damn things make it hard to go up to the surface and keep the ferry powered"

"Why did have to be demons?" Mikael asked "I mean why god couldn't have sent angels instead"

Kirill looked at the man with a raised eyebrow "You mean like what? A Woman with wings?"

"Yeah, an angel you debil" Mikael said "a beautiful woman with long flowing hair"

"Ah, great body to" Kirill said laughing "I would guess these angels would be naked or barley clothed at all"

"Oh naturally" Dimity said as he put his hands in his pockets "and let's not forget some big tits" dimity said as he held his hands near his chest gesturing as if there were two soccer balls on his chest causing the three men to laugh.

"If they existed then I wouldn't be here I would be on the surface" Kirill said as he grabbed his bag "and I would put a handle on my bag"

"Why would you do that?" Mikael asked him with a questioning edge to his voice.

"Why, don't you see bro?" Kirill said chuckling "I would make it as easy as possible for the buxom flying angels to grab me and take me to their nests" causing the others to laugh.

"I like that idea" Mikael said with a smile on his face, the amusement and glee shown with his eyes.

"You would have to keep your mask on for two reasons, one so you don't choke and die the other so the angel wouldn't choke and die" Dimity said as he tried to keep his composure but he burst with laughter at his own and the room was fully of laughter again. The sound died down and dimity regained his composure before asking Kirill "So besides that, anything else"

"Yeah, you won't believe me but it happened" Kirill said with amazement in his voice as he started to tell them about the ship that had been hovering over the square.

Tenala walked through the halls of the ship; she was bursting with excitement at their discovery. She entered her quarters on the top deck, she sighed happily at the events of the past few days. Her crew had done well at Sol-3 and now they were headed to the relay. Soon they would be back at the citadel with their findings and soon she hoped they would be back to Sol-3 to explore the planet much more toughly, they had covered other areas of the land mass they had found the massive ruin at but had to leave before they could explore more. She hoped that they could return and maybe discover about the fate of the planets inhabitants and what they were like. She was already trying to think of people who to bring, she would need archeologists, techs, and a bit of muscle for the wildlife but nothing major. She sighed as she sat down at her chair and began to write up her report to show the council and convince them that this was worth looking into and digging deeper into the system. The door to the room opened and Trexo walked up to her, they had covered other areas of the land mass they had found the massive ruin at but had to leave before they could explore more. The local creatures were getting to curious and had caused some problem for the ship so Tenala reluctantly ordered the _Discovery _to set course for the relay. The turian looked down at her, the Asari glanced up at him her face was full of pride.

"We finally did it Trexo" Tenala said her voice was joyful "We found something worth finding"

"Yes, we did" he said prideful as he sat down in a chair across from her "I know you already have a scheme to get us the right to exploration"

Tenala laughed "of course I have, you know me to well Trexo"

"Comes with being your friend for this long, I knew the moment that we saw the ruins we are returning" he chuckled "any ideas on who to bring with us?"

"Well, the team will need to have a leader" Tenala said as looked her XO in the eye "I want you to take charge of that"

"So I go down there and you watch me from above?" Trexo asked looking amused.

"Not alone, I'll let you decided on who you want to take as security" Tenala said "the locals were a bit curious and I don't want to lose any one to wildlife"

"Agreed" Trexo said in a matter-of-fact tone "we should bring some techs, as well and if we want to discover some of the people's history we will need an archeologist. The best we can find"

"You get to work on the techs, I know a very accomplished archeologist" Tenala said "I meet her at a conference on protheaons; she's the best I know. She can pick up the smallest details but its unfortunately lead her to strange theories on the protheon she has the evidence but only she sees it that way" The older Asari thought for a second "and I'm pretty sure that she would jump at this chance"

"what's her name?" Trexo asked inquisitively as he looked over a roster he had started.

"T'soni, Liara T'soni"


	2. Chapter 2

**Here we are the second chapter, as always enjoy!**

Liara walked through the spacious green park walkways of the presidium, of all the areas on the citadels massive structure the presidium was her favorite. She loved the natural beauty of the many parks and gardens that adorned the pristine white structures. The Prothean architecture with its smooth lines gracefully blended well with green planets and foliage of the presidium but she enjoyed it because it was peaceful here, quiet and she didn't have to deal with all the hustle and bustle of the crowds of the wards. Crowds and people in general made her uneasy and nervous, she preferred her solitude to be able to remain devoted to her work and being at dig sites made it less like to embarrass her around people.

The young blue Asari walked past a couple sitting on a park bench, she glanced at them before she picked up her pace and walked away blushing slightly. The young Asari was still a median and hadn't as so much as had her first kiss, always working, always studying. She wished she could find someone that she could relate to, talk to but most Asari she knew blew her off as a young know it all and looked down on her for being pure blood. Salarains found her ideas about the Protheans to be stupid and not plausible because she lacked evidence they found conclusive. Turians saw her as a shy, young girl with her nose always in a book and too busy to focus on civil problems. Overall she could count her friends on one hand, and she was here at the citadel to meet one of those few friends.

Liara walked up to the citadel tower, Tenala had told her to meet her at the entrance to the tower but Liara didn't see her anywhere. She sighed and checked the time and realized she was early, so she went over to a bench and sat down. She pulled out her data pad and started to read, she didn't see a Quarian girl walking up to the presidium tower entrance. She looked around before spotting Liara and walking over; she was rubbing her hands nervously.

"Um, excuse but are you captain Tenala?"

Liara nearly jumped out of her skin, startled out of her mind "no, no I'm not Tenala" she said in between gasps of air trying to get her breath back as she leaned back on the bench.

"I'm sorry I scared you" the Quarain meekly apologized as she started to rub her hands again "I am just so nervous, I don't even know why I'm here and oh Kel'ah I'm babbling again"

"It's alright" Liara said shyly "Don't worry I'm nervous to" the Asari gave the Quarain a small smile "I'm Liara"

"Tali, so are you waiting on the captain to?"

"Yes" Liara picked her data pad up and stood up brushing her lab coat off.

"Oh, I wonder where she is" Tali said as she looked around the area. Liara clutched the data pad to her chest as two Asari walked by; she recognized them as students at her university. They were in the same PHD program as her, archeology and like all the other people they made fun of her relentlessly. They looked at her; they only smirked with an evil intent in their eyes. Liara pulled the data pad in tighter and she tucked her head down close to her chest. Tali glared at the two, she crossed her arms making the Asari laugh

"What are you looking at suit rat?"

"How cute a pureblood, and a suit rat is that precious"

They didn't see a blue skinned Asari walking up; she looked like a space captain. She wore black cargo pants that had some leg mounted pouches on them, a gray tank top with a leather jacket thrown over top. Two pistols sat on the sides of her hip, and a long combat knife was strapped around her calf over her high topped boots. She had a chain of military style tags hanging around her neck, and red markings adorned her face. She was in great shape and with a figure that most Asari would die for she looked as she would be an intimidating person but the exterior didn't match what lay underneath. She watched as the other two Asari belittled the two, the Quarian was visible pissed and Liara looked on the verge of tears.

"Hey! You two" Tenala belted with her hands on her hips, causing everyone in the area to look at her. The two Asari looked at her shocked for a second but they just snuffed at them and stuck their noses in the air and walked off with. Their hubris seemed too radiated of them like a bad odor.

"Thank you" Tali said with a sigh "I thought they might never leave"

"I'm sorry" Liara squeaked "it's my fault; if you weren't talking to me they would have left you alone"

"Nonsense Liara" Tenala said comfortingly as she pulled the Asari in for a hug "Now tell me how was my old collage buddy doing"

Liara smiled at her friend "I'm doing alright; my work is finally seeing some recognition"

"That's great, and you must be Tali" Tenala said with a smile "Kelah'sali"

"Kelah'sali" Tali said a bit taken aback but not off put.

"What did you expect me to call you suit rat?" Tenala asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, no it's just that I really didn't know what to expect and now I'm rambling again, Bosh'tet"

"Well that wasn't very nice Tenala"

"Relax, both of you" Tenala said as she put a friendly hand on their shoulders "I'm joking, I have a Quarian on my crew and would never call any Quarian a suit rat"

"Oh, I forgot how much of a jokester you were" Liara said as she shook her head "I'm an idiot"

"No you're not, now come along" Tenala waved the two of them to follow her into the council tower "you got nothing to worry about with me" the three made their way through the halls of the council tower and found the conference room where the meeting was going to take place. Tenala stopped at the door to the room and opened it up with a swipe of her hand on the access panel; she motioned for them to go inside.

Liara looked around the room; it had a long central table that was surrounded by many people from all races. A screen was on one wall that was currently turned on, showing pictures of a snow covered landscape. Tali stood next to Liara, they both looked out of place in the room that was for sure.

A group of well-armed C-sec agents were standing in one corner; all of them were naturally Turians. The leader of the group was a tall dark turian, his gold colored tribe markings were a striking change to his blackened carapace. The others were joking and laughing with each other, except one who was studying his Omni-tool intensely. He had pale skin and plates with bluish tribe markings on his face, Liara saw him glance up at her. He gave her a small smile with a wink causing her to blush and look away hurriedly, this made the turian chuckle.

There was another Asari in the room as well; she stood at the head of the table and her presence demanded respect and a bit of fear. She wore the iconic black commando leathers, but had some up armored plating on her chest, back and around her lower arms and her legs. She wore a tactical visor over her right eye and stood with her arms crossed, her very demeanor said, don't fuck with me.

A Salarain was studying the pictures with the most attention that Liara had ever seen any one give, well anything. He was mumbling to himself in a rapid, pitter-pater pace as he rested his hand on his chin and crossed the other across his chest.

Tenala walked to the front of the room as the door slide shut, the Asari at the front dropped her demeanor for a second and gave the captain a brief embrace before she went back to stone, military cold. Tenala looked around the room before she shut the screen down and whistled to the room.

"Hey, yeah all you" she said as she drew their attention in "let's get this started"

"Of course, curious, wish to hear more" the Salarain said quickly as he smiled and waited for the Asari captain to continue.

"Alright, clam down Solus" she said chuckling "well let's begin with the easiest topic to address. All of you here were recruited or ordered to be here, so just going around the room" Tenala pointed to the Salarain "we have the good doctor Mordin Solus who will serve as the science officer for this mission and planet side" she pointed to Liara "Here we have Liara T'soni, one of the best archeologist in the business, she is the missions resident expert on all things historical and gone" Liara blushed as the others in the room looked at her and nodded, the Asari at the front of the room smiled at her.

"Benezias daughter?"

"Yes" Liara quietly spoke as she again pulled into herself, crossing her arms and rolling her shoulders forward. The military Asari smirked and waited for the captain to continue with the crew introductions.

"Well, since she wants to open her mouth" Tenala chuckled "This is my sister Aeine; she will be handling ground side security for any groups that leave base camp. She is also the survival expert so listening to her is advised" She motioned to the large black turian in the back of the room "My XO, Trexo is in charge of you lot once you get planet side. He will also command the C-sec security team the council gave us. Last but not least is Tali'Zorah who will serve as the tech expert on the ground"

"Wait your letting a Quarian come?" one of the C-sec officer asked with bitter tone to his voice.

"Yes, Tali is coming with us" Tenala replied flatly "Now if you got a problem with that you can to your bigoted scaly ass out the door"

The turian just scowled and mumbled as he leaned against the wall and glare at Tenala. His death glare didn't seem to faze Tenala as she continued on. She pulled up the screens display and it showed the snow landscape again, she used her Omni-tool to pull back to the beginning of the presentation.

"Now, most of you were not told exactly what it is we are doing" Tenala started to speak with all the authority of a captain as she began to brief the different members of the multispecies crew.

"Yeah, we are exploring a new planet that was found" The pale skinned turian said as he leaned on the table "We are there to protect from pirates and slavers"

"Oh, are there Prothean ruins? IS that why I am here?" Liara asked the others began to chime in before a loud bang filled the room as Trexo slammed his fist down on the table. The room went silent and looked up at Tenala who was standing at the front of the room, arms crossed and a mean glare on her face.

"Interrupt me again, I dare you" she said to the turian her voice even and threatening. The group was dead silent as the captain moved her death glare around the gathered members her auxiliary crew.

"While I was interrupted, Garrus here was only half right" Tenala looked at Liara "and no, none that we know of" Tenala moved the screen along to a picture of a blue planet with a few land masses on it, there were large weather systems that covered some areas of the planet.

"This, ladies and gentlemen" Tenala said as she turned and faced the group "is where we are going, and we are the first to set foot on the surface"

It was late in Venice, the residential distract had gone dark a few hours ago. The lanterns of the fish market and shipping center were cold and dark, and the docks were black as the night that had rolled in like a blanket. The residents of Venice didn't see it come however as their city, like the entire last bastion of humanity in Moscow, it was built underground in the metro. Its main area, the equivalent of "downtown" was still a buzz with activity. The bar was fully of happy, drunk and feed patrons who were just trying to forget that they lived in a nightmare for just a bit. Kirill was sitting at the bar; unlike the rest of them he was not happy.

The Russian man grabbed the bottle of vodka that he had bought for 5 MGR, the metro had been trying to find a source of better currency than bullets and had only half way succeeded. Venice being an independent state only took bullets as currency but trades were always welcome. Kirill poured another glass of the clear, cool alcohol into his already thrive emptied glass.

He was just staring in to space, his eyes blank and tired as he pitched a gulp of vodka back. He sat up and turned away leaning up against the bar placing his elbows on the counter. He looked down at his tattooed arm; he looked it over as he often did at times. He had found the symbolism in it fit him quiet well as he struggled with everything that was depicted in the ink. He took another drink from the glass, the vodka burned nice and smooth as it made its way into his gut warming him from the inside which was welcome. He listened to the band that had formed from the few musicians, and that was a lose term, had formed an ensemble for the bar. They played their song and Kirill was busy nursing his drink so he didn't see as a man came up next to him and sat down.

"Privyet moy drog"

Kirill looked over at the man; he had short cropped hair that was dark brown while stubble covered his face. A leather strap wrapped around his head and held a patch over his missing left eye, his right one was brown in color and was watching the same sight as Kirill, two girls dancing to the music the band was playing.

"Pavel, how are you this fine Venice evening" Kirill asked him as he tipped his glass looking at his friend. Pavel was wearing a thick blue jacket and a sling bag was slung over his back with his bolt action rifle next to it. A revolver hung from his hip and he wore military style cargo pants that were tucked into the paratrooper boots that covered his feet. A Red scarf was wrapped around his neck and a messenger bag swung past the bar stole where he sat next to Kirill.

"I don't know yet, we will see how things go" Pavel said as he grabbed a glass and held it out "Mogu li ya?"

"Konechno" Kirill chuckled as he poured his friend a glass of vodka. The two men clinked glasses and down the contents. Kirill refilled both glasses and they sighed in contentment, Pavel looked over at Kirill who was staring into the distance.

"It's been what?" Pavel asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Seven years" Kirill flatly answered as he took a drink "I know what you're going to ask me Pavel"

"Oh really? Is that so?" Pavel replied with humor to his voice "what if I wasn't even talking about that?"

"Pavel, we both know exactly what you are talking about" Kirill said as he looked at the man "I'm not taking a partner, no more groups"

"Not even me huh?" Pavel asked him "You wound me deeply moy drog"

"Pavel, you have thicker skin than a nosalis. If I wounded you with my words then you are a bitch" Kirill said with a chuckle. Pavel laughed at his friends jest before taking a drink of his vodka.

"Look, all I'm saying is that you should take someone with you when you go" Pavel told him "I'm not saying keep at each other's hips but use radios, that way we can help each other out because face it Kirill your luck will run out"

"Pavel, I have told you" Kirill said as he took a long drink "I work alone, I'm not being responsible for someone else"

"Kirill that was seven years ago" Pavel placed a hand on his shoulder "Let it go before it destroys you entirely"

Kirill sat on the bar stole and stared straight ahead, his face was dark and his long hair fell around his face covering it. He downed his drink before looking down at the ground, the memories of that day burned in his mind like a fire raging till it consumed him. He growled in anger, pain and sorrow before he tipped the bottle of vodka back and took a few solid gulps from it. The memories were rushing back into his mind like a monster that wished to destroy him from the inside out. He took the bottle and smashed it against the wall, it shattered and the few remaining drops of alcohol splashed out onto the floor.

The bar was quiet and every one was looking at Kirill, he was breathing heavy and fast is eyes wide and racing from where he leaned up against the wall with one hand. His head down, he heard footsteps coming up to him and a hand was placed on his back rather forcefully. Kirill was so far deep in his own mind that he reacted like a cornered animal; his fist flew out hard and fast. The security officer that had grabbed him took the blow to his face and it sent the man into a table knocking it over, two more men rushed in to grab him but Kirill was now fighting for what he believed was his life. The first man hit Kirill in the face but it only knocked the younger man for a second before he lashed out with a solid hook the connected with a hard thump to the man's temple and he dropped.

The second bear hugged Kirill from the back pinning his arms as he picked him up. The security guard didn't expect Kirill to be all that strong and was surprised when he kicked him in the leg making him drop him. Kirill quickly dropped under the man's arms and slammed him in the face with an uppercut. By now the second and first man had got up and both tackled Kirill and used makeshift cuffs on his arms. Kirill yelled as he kicked and yelled in sheer terror as he was fully in the old memory, the security guards finally got him bond and they picked him up, the bigger one throwing him over his shoulder.

Pavel just shook his head as his friend was carried off, he sighed turning to face the bartender. The man just grumbled something about stupid drunks and punk kids. Pavel looked at him with a glare in his eye, the bartender meet his gaze for a second before going back to what he was doing. The man did a double take when he saw Pavel still glaring at him.

"What? Your friend is always causing problems here when he drinks" the bartender said as he whipped the counter down "punk kid"

"Punk kid?" Pavel stood up "he is not a punk or a kid, it's hard when you go through what he did to keep yourself together" he picked up his rifle and slung back over his back "I'm done here, I'll drink elsewhere suka"

Liara sat in her small apartment, a suit case lay on her bed where she was busy stuffing it full of clothes. Nearby Tali stood in the door way, the young Asari was ecstatic. Tali was just chuckling at her newly made friend.

"You know that we don't leave for a few more hours' right?" Tali asked her as she stood up and went about looking at things in the room.

"I know but I'm just so excited" Liara squealed "This, this is big Tali"

"I'm a Quarian, big for us would be if this planet had not back ground radiation and was viable for us to live suit less on the surface" Tali said as she picked up a picture from Liara's bedside table.

"I'm sorry it's not but think about it" Liara said as she smiled "we will be the first to step foot on the planet, all its mysteries, its history is all there for us to discover"

"Yeah, and Tenala said that anything I find of use to the fleet I can take back to complete my pilgrimage" Tali said happily "I never knew that people were kind to Quarains, most people despise us"

"Tenala is not most people" Liara said as she closed her suit case. Tali laughed as she put the picture down and the two walked out from the room and into the busy streets of the wards. A sky car came gliding in gracefully, its hatch opened and inside sat Trexo and Mordin. Liara climbed in to the back and sat down; she put her case in her lap and held it to her chest. Tali sat up front with Trexo who closed the hatch and the car lifted off the ground.

"Liara T'soni" came Mordin voice quick as a whip. Liara jumped a bit startled, she looked at the Salarain.

"Apologies didn't mean to startle. Thoughts on mission?" He asked his voice excited and happy.

"It is exciting" Liara said meekly from where she sat.

"Agreed, most exciting" Mordin said "Local flora and fauna, fascinating possibilities. The ruins as well, many questions"

"Yeah" Liara shyly replied "I just hope it's not dangerous"

"Not to worry T'soni" Trexo said form the front "most of the planet is dead from radiation, we hope that we might be able to terraforming it back since it's not too far gone"

"What about the ruins and the people?" Tali asked "we can't just take their home"

"Chances of intelligent life are slim, chance of the local native population surviving is unlikely" Mordin quipped "Likely ruins are indicative of nuclear war"

"The good doctor is right, the high levels of radiation prove that they bombed themselves to oblivion" Trexo said as he piloted the car into the docking ring area of the citadel.

"Still, the chance to study and discover a whole new culture" Liara said "it's amazing, they may not be Prothean but my work here may finally give me the credibility that my other work needs to be recognized more"

"Read some of your work, quite well but too much inference, facts lacking" Mordin said causing Liara to roll back up "No insult intended, quality is there, need more evidence however. Keep working, long life to discover, very jealous"

"Thank you Doctor Solus" Liara smiled.

"No thanks required, Mordin will suffice"

"All I hope is that I can bring something back to the fleet" Tali said with a chuckle. Trexo looked at her with a smile.

"You do well enough and Tenala might offer you to join our crew" Trexo said as he landed the sky car "we have a Quarian engineer and she's the best I have meet"

The hatch to the car opened and the four got out, Liara's eyes widened at the sight of a beautiful white ship. Its long wings and sweeping Asari design reminded her of the Pan'va birds back home with their large wings and beautiful white feathers. The loading bay was open on the underneath of the ship as equipment and supplies were loaded on board. Tenala came walking over to them; she was beaming ear to ear.

"Welcome to my ship" Tenala said as she waved back at the space craft "The _Discovery _is the best exploration craft out there"

Liara nodded, Tali being the ship enthusiasts, was speechless at the sight of the fine vessel. Mordin looked it over with a scientist's eyes and nodded seeming pleased with what he saw.

"Come on let's get you settled in, in three days we are going to arrive at Sol 3 and then the fun begins"

Kirill sat in the rickety, smell rack in the small cell in the city jail. He sighed as he reached in his pants pocket and pulled out his bullet lighter and a pack of cigarettes. He placed on of the rolls of tobacco in his lips and flicked the bullet lighter and a small fire sprang to life. He took a drag on the cigarette as he held it to the flame, lighting his face up in the dark. He closed the lighter and the cell went back to being a dark pit, the only light was the cherry at the end of the cigarette.

The door to the cell block opened and the security chief walked in turning the lights on. The sudden flash from the bulbs made Kirill raise his hand to cover his eyes. His eyes adjusted slowly and he slowly lowered his hand. The chief just stood there his hands on his hip; he looked at Kirill with sympathy and a sad look on his eyes.

"Can I have one; I left my pack in the office"

Kirill stood up groaning a bit as he did and popped his neck as he walked over to the bars and leaned up against them. He pulled out the cigarettes and held them out to the chief who took one quickly placing it in his teeth. Kirill was emotionless as he pulled out his lighter and held the flame out to the chief who took a puff and lit the cigarette.

"Look Kirill, you're a good man but you got to get help" The chief began "take a break, go to polis they have doctors there who can help you"

"I'm fine Andrei"

"No son you're not"

"Don't call me that" Kirill said as he looked away from the chief.

"Alright, I am just getting tired of seeing you in here" Andrei said sadly as he opened the door to the cell. Kirill walked out and over to the wall next to Andrei and leaned up against the wall placing one foot on it.

"I know, that's why I go out so often" Kirill replied "keeps me out of trouble and helps the city"

"You are going to have to get yourself right in the head Kirill or you won't come back one day" Andrei sighed as he closed the door "I am an old man Kirill, old enough that I fought in the war before the nukes fell. You're not facing a new problem, you just need help"

"Andrei, I can't leave the city" Kirill snapped "I'm the best stalker in the damn place, just ask Fedor"

"I know but if you die then we loss you forever not just the time it takes you to get better" Andrei said as he leaned up next to Kirill "it's not your fault, you know that right"

"I'm not talking about this" Kirill replied coldly as he burned his cigarette out and flicked the butt away "I'm going back out tomorrow"

"How long?" Andrei sighed as he leaded Kirill out of the cell block.

"A week maybe ten days, you know me I'm not back till I have my list" Kirill said as he took his revolver back from Andrei.

"I know, I'll have it ready for you tomorrow"

"Thanks" Kirill started for the door and he grasped the handle before Andrei spoke again.

"You're a good man Kirill, you just got to find that man again" Andrei said "and you won't find that out in the wasteland"

Kirill didn't replay but stood at the door for a few seconds before he opened the door and waited as if he wanted to say something before he walked out and the door shut behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

**So far I would like to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, and supported this story thus far. **

Kirill sat on the small bench of the small ferry, his face had a cool red light on it from the cherry at the end of the cigarette that he had dangling from the corner of his mouth. He took a drag on it and the small coal glow bright for a second illuminating his face under the black shadow of his heavy hood. He was headed out again to the surface; he couldn't stay in the city to long as it brought back memories more and more now. He needed to get away from everything, the reminders, the people who looked at him, everything.

He checked over his list that the chief had prepared for him to try and gather the list came from people and groups in the city. It was shorter than usual but he planned to stay out for a while, he liked to push his boundaries and so far he had made it back every time. He folded the paper up and stuck it in the chest pocket of his thick leather jacket. His cigarette was at the end of the butt so he pulled it out and flicked it into the green water of the metro rivers.

"So going out again?" the ferryman asked him, his gruff voice breaking the silence. Kirill looked up at him from where he sat, his eyes covered in the shadow of his jackets hood.

"Yeah, just taking a different surface ladder" Kirill replied flatly as he grabbed his carbine. The ferry drifted close to the shore of the metros rivers.

"Well good luck Kirill"

"Thanks" Kirill said as he stood from his seat and placed a bullet in the bucket at the front of the ferry "For your trouble"

He stepped off the deck of the small raft and onto the solid concrete ground of the metro tunnels, his boots echoing into the darkness. The ferry started up again and paddled its way back down the river. Kirill took his carbine and fitted the stock up into his shoulder. He raised it up and used the IR mounted sight to scan the tunnel, now movement just the ever present empty blackness. He dropped the weapon down and jogged over to the left side of the tunnel. He made his way along the abandoned line of subway tunnels. His weapon remained in his shoulder and his feet were silent as he slowed to a walk coming to one of the many maintenance stations that dotted the metro lines. The door was open a jar and he could hear a few voices coming from the station, they echoed in a ghostly manor into the empty tunnel.

Kirill put his hand on the heavy steel door, and pushed it open slowly keeping his rifle's muzzle aligned with it. He swept the room using his flashlight; the small entrance room was dusty and looked as if no one had been there in years. He grabbed the door and closed it behind him with his front hand keeping a hold of the pistol grip of his weapon. The steel door shut behind him securing his back, the sound filled the room like the hit of a gong.

Kirill flicked his flashlight off and sunk into a corner, his weapon up and eye down the IR scope. He waited counting in his head; he didn't dare breath or move. The voices didn't stop, he couldn't make out what any of them were saying or hear any indication if they were aware of his presence. He sat there for thirty seconds before he slowly inched forward, the sight of his weapon hovering just below eyelevel as he stalked up to the doorway. He snapped in the room, his weapon driving towards the right corner. It was clear and he quickly whipped to the other corner, no one was there. He slowly swept the room all the while the voices whispered around him. He could make out the shapes of things in the room, two beds were in the corner, a ring of chairs around what looked to be a fire pit were in the center of the room. He could see suitcases, lockers and make shift cabinets. He quickly tried to use his flashlight but it wasn't turning on, he swore under his breath.

He could see a lantern on a table, he carefully walked over to the table all the while the voices whispered in the room and it seemed in his head the noise seemed to be filling his mind. He grabbed his head, the voices were beginning to make his head ache and the voices were beginning to get more oppressive. He could feel a sense of hopelessness closing around him like a giant vice, as if the darkness swirled around his body and the walls were closing in. He reached out and grabbed the lantern letting his rifle fall around his chest; he grabbed the lantern and shaking it, if it was from the feeling of terror that was gripping his soul or his natural instinct to check it, Kirill didn't know. The oil inside it sloshed around and he grabbed his lighter. He flicked the flame on as fast as he could with his heart racing and his hands shaking. As soon as the flame sprang to life Kirill shoved it into the lantern lighting the wick. The flame sprung to life and the voices stopped, he whipped around the lantern in his hand.

He didn't see anyone or anything in the room, but as soon as the flame of the lantern had blinked into life the voices had stopped. He could see the room in more detail now; the room looked as if it had been used once as a small makeshift home. It now was clearly a tomb and not a home.

One of the beds sheets was covered in old dried blood; bones lay around the room with dried blood stains on the floors and the walls. In the center of the room there was a noose the swung from the pipes on the ceiling. Kirill looked on with a sense of sadness at what he saw; on the edge of the pale red light the lantern put out in the room he could see what appeared to be the shadows of five people. One was small enough to be a little girl. He sighed as he blew the flame in the lantern out and set it down on the table. The voices picked up again, they filled the room as the ghosts of the tormented dead whispered around the room. Kirill walked through the tomb his footsteps quiet and deliberate. He walked past the blood soaked and stained beds, the noose creaked as he passed it and the pile of bones and clothes under it. He reached the door without anything happening, he grabbed the doors handle with a shaky right hand and he pulled it open into the ladder access well.

He glanced back over his shoulder and could see five darker shadows in the room. He felt and knew that their eyes were on him. A cold shiver ran down his spine causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. He sighed as he grabbed the first rung of the steel ladder; he could feel the sadness, anger, and pain that filled the small maintenance room that had once been a family's home as if it filled the air around him and he was breathing it in. People that hoped to survive and live, children that had dreams of the future and the love that was found in close families was snuffed out by the cruel world.

"Rest in peace" He said with a feeling of despair in his voice as he began his climb towards the surface. He climbed up the long ladder, his feet and hands making steady, low thuds as he made his way towards the surface. It didn't take too long before he reached the top of the ladder. He saw the large cover above him and pushed it open, the rusty hinges moaned as the moved for the first time in years.

Kirill let the ladder well cover fall back, it stopped against the back bar making a bang that radiated in the small building above him. He took his rifle and slowly crawled up the tube with his back pressed against the steel wall and his hand on his rifle. He broke the edge of the steel tube that housed the ladder with his weapon first.

"Looks clear enough" He said as he climbed the rest of the way out. He saw the door to the outside world a few feet to his right, sunlight peaked under the small gap under the door. He pulled his hood back off his head and grabbed his gas mask out of the gag on his waist. He took a deep breath and held it as he pulled it over his head and tugged the straps down tight. He placed a hand over the filter on the mask and exhaled hard clearing the mask out.

He grabbed the edge of the ladder's cover and pulled it down shutting it with a thud. Kirill pulled his rifle up and walked over to the door, his front hand pushed it open and he was greeted by the snow covered landscape of the ruins of Moscow. He walked out of the door into the white landscape; the breath from his lungs came out as a light mist from the filters of his mask. The air that filled his empty lungs was cold; the dull sunlight that forced its way through the cloud cover cast a ghostly gray light over the ruins. Kirill checked his weapon before he started on his way into the barren ruins.

Liara was standing at the window of the discoveries portside observation deck at the sight below here, the breaks in the clouds let her see glimpses of the ruined city below, it was hard to make the details out from their altitude but she could tell that at one point it had been a great city. She tried to imagine it as it was before whatever happened to its people occurred that its lights and streets were alive but she couldn't. The image of its white, snow covered state of beautiful ruin was burned into her mind.

She cloud see a faint reflection of her in the window, she appeared to be a ghost floating over the city. She had appeared different then before now, she wasn't wearing doctor fatigues or a school uniform but the garb of an adventure. She had on thick pants made from the best synthetic fibers; armor plating covered her upper legs. Her steel armored boots clacked a bit on the deck of the ship, her pants went over them but the armor protection went up to her knees. She had on a hard armored vest with protecting her upper torso while a soft armored shirt was underneath it; the special pads on the shirt gave her protection on her lower abdomen and her upper arms. The forearms of the shirt were bare; she didn't like things around her wrists.

Liara crossed her arms uncomfortably as she studied herself in the window; she wasn't used to seeing herself like this. She didn't look like a PHD student anymore; she looked like a hardened mercenary or a rough around the edges space. Well at least up to her neck she did, after that her face gave away the fact she defiantly didn't fit her outfit. She had gotten everything as a gift from Tenala who told her that her gear wouldn't cut it groundside so she fitted her up. Liara was uncomfortable; it felt like she wasn't in a skin that wasn't hers anymore and the weight of a pistol on her hip just added to it.

"Well what do you think?" Tali asked making her presence known. Liara jumped and whipped around, the Quarain raised her hands defensively "Easy Liara, it's just me"

"Oh, good to see you Tali" Liara replied with a blush, her embarrassment getting the better of her. Tali just chuckled and walked up to Liara. The Quarain had outfitted her suit to better stand the rigors of what they may encounter on the ground. Unarmored plates protected her vital organs and covered her upper legs and her arms. She had put a pair of armor gloves on her hands to prevent a suit rupture from getting her hand cut. She had put a protective cage over her mask to keep it from being impacted.

"You look…." Liara began trying to find the right words but Tali interrupted her.

"Like a tank, I know" she said laughing as she put a hand around her friends shoulder and the two looked out down below them "You look different, amazing what an outfit can do"

"Yeah, I would have never have seen myself in this before" Liara said with a slight sense of humor to her voice "I didn't even recognize myself"

"What do you think we will find down there?" Tali asked her as she crossed her arms. Liara looked at her puzzled by the question. She thought about it for a few seconds before she looked back at the ruins below them, she didn't know and that thought excited her but at the same time horrified her. She hugged herself and her shoulders slumped forward as she stared out at the wasteland.

"I don't know" Liara's voice was low "and as much as that excites me"

"It's frightening" a turian voice said behind them. The two girls turned to see the pale skinned turian with blue marking standing in the door. He, like them, looked ready. His armor was augmented with some thick cloth coverings to provide insulation from the cold and the collar around his neck had a thick fur lining around it. He had two rifles on his back and a pistol on his hip, he walked over to them.

"I'm Garrus by the way" he said with a smile.

"Tali"

"Liara"

"Well they want us to get to the loading bay" Garrus said as he took a glance at the ruins out the window. Liara looked up at him; he stood a foot taller than she did.

"What for?" She asked him.

"It's time to go down there" He replied and motioned for the two to follow them. Liara took one last glance out the window before she stepped off. She and Tali followed behind Garrus as he led them through the ship, they passed a few rooms before descending a stair case in to the loading bay area. The main door hissed open and they walked into the loading bay. The drop ship that would take them groundside sat off to the starboard side of the hanger. It sat in its holding claws, waiting to be deployed.

Liara could see the first ground team waiting in the hanger, they were busy checking weapons. All of them had modified their armors for the cold environment below. Trexo stood with two of the C-sec Turians; the others were standing off by themselves. Mordin waved at the three as they arrived and Garrus broke off to go talk with his friends. Liara and Tali went over to the doctor who greeted them happily.

"Hello Liara, Tali" Mordin greeted happily, his voice full of excitement "SO much opportunity, discovery, new things"

"Slow down doctor" Tali said chuckling "I wouldn't do you any good to die of heart attack on the ship"

"Of course, need to get self under control" He said as he took a few deep breaths. Meanwhile Liara watched as Tenala walked in with Aeine, the two embraced briefly and the commando sister walked over to the shuttle and waited by the hatch. Tenala walked over to Liara with a smile on her lips, she had something in her hand but Liara couldn't make out what it was as her friend hid it behind her.

"Hello Tenala"

"Hey Liara" Tenala replied her voice full of pride "you ready for this?"

"I think so" Liara meekly told her. Tenala held out what was in her hand to her; Liara looked down at it before she looked up at her. The Asari was presenting her a black leather jacket, it had a hood on it with white fur lining inside.

"Take it" Tenala told her "It's a gift, I know how you are and that doing this is a big risk for you"

"Tenala, it's nice but I don't think this is me" Liara said as she pulled it on. Tenala looked at her as she chuckled; the captain put her hands on Liara's shoulders. She gave her a smile, and Liara returned it.

"There's a fire in you Liara" Tenala said, her voice proud and optimistic "You just have to find the spark"

"You are a good friend Tenala" Liara told her as the two gave each other a quick hug. Tenala gave her a squeeze and then let her go. She pulled a knife off her belt and put it in Liara's hand, the younger Asari glanced at it before raising her shocked eyes up to her friends.

"It's my lucky knife, take it you will need it more than me" Tenala told her "now go, and have fun"

Liara chuckled to herself as she walked over to the drop ship, a small smile on her lips. The young Asari maiden stepped up into the small holding area of the shuttle. The rest of the group was in there, Trexo handed her a breathing mask.

"When I saw put it on" he said from behind the face mask of his helmet. Liara nodded as she faced out into the hanger. The hatch came down and she hardened her gaze as the door swung down in front of her and sealed. She saw Tenala watching as the claws that gripped the shuttle maneuvered into position over the drop doors on the hanger's deck.

"You may want to hold on to something" Aeine told Liara. She quickly grabbed a handle that hung from the ceiling of the shuttles troop bay. Suddenly the claws let go of the shuttle and the craft dropped like a brick for two hundred feet clearing the bottom of the ship. Liara screamed as a feeling of weightless ness took over but once the engines engaged she could feel everything return to normal. She didn't know that it wouldn't last for long, for unknown to the crew on board they had been seen as they broke through the clouds headed for a clearing down below near a large building with a decrypted flag blowing in the window adorned with a three pronged swastika on it.

Mikel sat behind his machine gun post on the surface, bored out his skull. He looked around the room; a few others were sitting around the small enclosure. They were all wearing gas masks to protect them from the dangers of the surface. Mikel turned his attention back to the area he had to watch. The Reich had set up this outpost for its surface recon teams and while the main area had been made to be livable the three machine gun posts had not been made into a mask free zone.

He was drifting off when he heard a strange noise out in the ruins; he got behind his gun, a massive 12.7mm Dishka. He scanned the area and looked, all the while hearing the odd noise. It sounded like a fan but more distorted and then he realized that it was coming from the sky. He looked up to see a strange, white boxy thing flying in the air. It had four legs with strange glowing blue balls at the end of them.

"Uh, sergeant" Mikel said unsteadily

"What is it Mikel" the man replied as he walked over to the solider. Mikel pointed and the two looked at the craft before the higher ranking man made a decision.

"I don't know what it is but you don't stop shooting until it goes down!" He yelled as he sighted in on the strange thing with a pair of binoculars.

"Yes sir" Mikel replied as he racked the charging handle on the gun and sighted in on the weird craft.

Liara was sitting on one of the door mounted seats in the bay of the shuttle; she had put her mask on and was now just waiting for them to touch ground. Her stomach had only just now stopped doing backflips from her excitement and the drop out of the discovery. Garrus sat across from her; he gave her a quick smile before looking back out the front of the shuttle. Suddenly the shuttle rocked violently sending Liara out of her seat, she fell on the floor. The others chuckle at her making her blush furiously; she pushed herself up and stood. She sighed as she grabbed the one of the hand holds on the roof.

Looks like turbulence" Trexo said with a laugh "don't worry we will…."

He didn't get to finish as the shuttle shock again, this time thuds were heard as something impacted the hall. The Pilot up front yelled back to them, his voice was full of fear.

"We got hit!" He yelled and suddenly the troop bay exploded in a panic. Liara's heart was racing as the shuttle was rocked again. A sudden explosion bounced the craft and the host of people in the rear slammed into the celling of the craft. Liara yelped in pain as she was slammed back into the deck of the craft. The troop bay was chaos, Tali was holding on to her seat for dear life and Liara tried to crawl to one of them but the crushing force of the falling shuttle kept her pinned.

"We are going down!" the pilot shouted as he radioed the _discovery. _He never finished his transmission as a stream of hot lead poured through the windshield of the shuttle. Liara watched in horror as the Turians head erupted in a fountain of blood. The shuttle listed to its side and Liara screamed as felt her feet point to the ground. Garrus had strapped himself into a seat and tried to reach her. Liara screamed in fear as another salvo smashed the shuttle without mercy. The Turians fingers were inches away from Liara's hand she reached for Garrus but when the hatch below her broke off as whatever was shooting at them below hit the hinges of the hatch.

Liara screamed as she looked down, the ground was spinning fast. The shuttle was spinning on its side as the three remaining fields kept its dissent slow. The gun that was firing at them had stopped and Liara didn't care for the reason why all that was running through her head was that she was going to die. She couldn't think straight as her body was flushed full of adrenaline, the wind whipped around her. She had to blink to keep her eyes clear from debris, images of the shuttle seemed to strobe in her mind. She saw Garrus reach his hand out for the Asari, Liara saw it and reached for it but the wind pulled her like a vacuum. She slammed her hand back down on the deck of the ship, her hand holding tight to her hold on the deep ridges on the deck plating. She looked up at Garrus between blinks, he was trying to yell something to her but she couldn't hear him over the roaring wind. Mordin was busy trying to use his Omni-tool to get control of the ship but to no avail.

Liara's arms were on fire as she held on for her life. She saw Garrus reaching for her she reached again their fingers brushing together. For a brief moment they both had relief in their eyes as they almost clasped hands but it was a fleeting second as the shuttle rocked again. The gun that had been firing on them from below had been fully reloaded and now was laying waste back into the shuttle. As the ship rocked from the volley of fire she was thrown of the deck of the ship as she craft shuddered. Her eyes went wide in horror, her mind went blank as her hand slipped from Garrus and she was sucked out into the howling void.

Liara was in the air for a few seconds but the felt like hours as she plummeted fifty feet to the flat solid concrete roof of a building. She luckily had the quick thinking to pull up a biotic barrier which saved her life. She hit the ground hard, her barrier broke taking most of the impact from her fall but her body took a good bite of it as she smashed into the ground. Her side hit ground first; she had never felt so much pain in her life as she smacked the deck. Her legs hit next and she yelled in pain as her head bounced off the ground. Her vision flashed as her heart raced, blackness closed in around her as she watched the shuttle spinning out of control crash behind the buildings across the street in front of the structure she had landed on.

She tried to stand but was too weak from her struggle and the pain the coursed through her body was overwhelming that she thought for sure she imagined her last vision. From the roof access doorway a figure appeared, taller than her and clad in some sort of ratty clothing. On its face it wore some sort of mask with a large lens and some sort of canister on the front. She watched it her vision still slow fading as it ran up to her. The creature crouched down in front of her and looked at her, she couldn't make out any of its facial features as the shadow cast by the hood on its jacket shaded its face.

She closed her eyes accepting that she was going to die here. She felt a tugging and then she was in the air laying across something that began to move and as she slow faded consciousness she pleaded with the goddess that whatever had taken her was going to kill her fast.

_A few moments earlier _

Kirill breathed heavy through his gas mask as he crouched behind the engine block of a burned out car. He glanced at his watch and saw that he had about twenty minutes of air left on this filter before he had to switch. He checked his surroundings with a quick turkey peak. Kirill kept his eyes on the window where he knew that the Reich outpost kept a Dishka. He had no intentions dancing with that reaper today so he stayed low, sliding along behind a large embankment on his hand off hand and knees keeping a good grip on his weapon. He scanned his path as he moved slowly checking for any mutants.

He heard that same noise he had heard when the ship had appeared a week ago and he looked up. He brought his carbine rifle up and looked through the scope he had swapped out for the IR sight when he had gotten to the surface. He did a double take before looking back through his scope at the strange thing that was flying towards the square. He watched it fly trying to figure out how it was flying when he heard the first long burst from the Dishka rip. The stream of bullets smashed into the side of the ship rocking it on its axis. He didn't stick around though as he didn't want to get involved in a fight with some strange craft and the Reich outpost.

Kirill backed into the building as the ship tried to evade the gun fire but the man behind it was good as his bursts hit true again and again. The young Russian watched from a window as the boxy flying craft erupted with a small explosion from the front right side of it and tilted. He watched it disappear from view as it spun out of control over the building he was in.

"Holy shit!" he yelled as he took off running for the stairs. Kirill ran up the flight of stairs as fast as he could head for the roof. He came out on the third floor and saw out the back window as the craft crashed into the building across the street. He heard a thud on the roof and ran up the stairs as fast as he could. He reached the corner of the stairs and glanced down at his watch, _okay seventeen minutes_ he thought to himself. Kirill rounded the corner his weapon up and saw what looked like a person lying on the ground on their side. He looked at them for a second pondering what to do. He growled as his good nature got the better of him and he ran over to the person.

When he got there what he saw shocked him as it was not at all what he expected to find laying on the roof of a building in the wasteland of Moscow. He crouched down and looked the thing over. It looked human enough from what he could see, and a woman at that. She looked to be in pain which if she fell from the craft would be a guarantee and how she survived Kirill didn't know. He frowned under his mask; he did not like this at all. She looked at him and he could make out her face more beyond the mask she wore around her mouth and his eyes were wide with fear, shock and strongly empathy. He could make out all the pain in her eyes; she had tears running down her cheeks.

Kirill looked around before he slung his rifle on his back and grabbed the alien woman's wrist and pulled her up onto his shoulder's in a fireman's carry. He jogged back into the building, she wasn't too heavy for which he was very grateful. He needed to get her to an outpost and the only one nearby was half a mile away. He sighed to himself as he carried the alien woman down the stairs and through the building.

"Well Kirill it's going to be a long walk to the outpost" he told himself as he glanced around the alleyway before crossing over into the next building "what have you gotten yourself into now"

Garrus lay in the pile of wreckage that was once their shuttle. He tried moving but he struggled from the pain the flooded his body. He heard the others moaning and grimacing in pain as they tried to move. He looked back at the shuttle wreckage, the few survivors lay in heaps on the ground but the two Turians that didn't make were in awful shape. The first was skewered on a rebar hanging from the metal rod from where it went through his upper torso. The other was laying a few feet away from Garrus, well half of him.

The young c-sec officer heard voices; he didn't recognize them as he searched for their source. He saw black shapes approaching them from a room that was adjacent to the ones that the shuttle had crashed into. The shapes stopped when they saw them, as if surprised by what they saw. They slowly approached them and Garrus half expected them to shoot them all right then and there with the weapons in their hands. The shadowy figure that stood over him spoke before it rose its foot and kicked him in the head hard, knocking him out.

"Guten Morgan!" was the last thing Garrus heard before a booted foot connected with his head and he knew no more.

**As always hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm still looking for a beta for this story so if you are interested let me know. Also if anyone calls bullshit on a Dishka taking a Mass Effect Shuttle down, I will laugh as they are Russian .50 cal machine guns**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm glad everyone has stuck me this far, as always enjoy**!

Kirill sat in a ratty old chair in the corner of the outpost; he was watching the alien woman closely. He had carried her all the way to the small hide out that was built into an old tractor trailer. It was in an alleyway so it had some cover from observation but it was still one of the more exposed outposts in the area. Kirill had managed to get her inside and he had set her down on one of the two racks that were in the cramped makeshift home. The only light came from the few lanterns that hung around the outpost. The filter was converted from the AC unit that kept the trailer cold. The stalkers had picked this particular trailer as it was one built to keep its cargo refrigerated and with some metro jerry-rigging know how the AC unit became a filtration unit. The airlock was easy as the trailer had two sections, part for unrefrigerated goods and the other for goods that required to be kept cool.

It had some basic furnishings, a small fire stove that used a double door system to keep the toxic outside air from flowing through the chimney. Two small beds were in the trailer along with a few footlockers and the chair that Kirill was sitting in, carefully watching his captive or the woman he rescued, he had yet to decide. The young Russian held his revolver loosely in his hand taking care to point it at the alien.

He had been able to treat her wounds as she was surprisingly very similar to a human, in fact the only thing he had seen that indicated her as an alien was her blue skin, her lack of ears and the strange crest's on her head in place of her hair. Kirill had been as respectful as possible in treating her making sure to preserve the alien's dignity as much as he could. She was still asleep, her breathing steady and even.

"What are you?" Kirill wondered aloud as he stood up to check on her. He walked over to the bed and looked down at her. She looked peaceful in her sleep and despite his initial shock at being the first human he ever knew or heard of to find an alien, something about her was attractive. He placed two of his fingers on her neck checking her pulse. It was still there, and strong which was a good sign for her. Kirill pulled the blanket back and checked the bandages that were wrapped around her ribcage. They were still snug and the blood had yet to soak up to the top. He pulled the blanket back over her making sure that she was warm.

"Well, you seem alright friend" he told her before he went over to the stove and set about starting to cook up some of the meat he had. He licked his lips as the sweet smell of the large mutant creatures that were common in the swamps and rivers filled the air, they called them shrimps. The meat sizzled on the stove as Kirill checked the fire in its small closed in pit under the steel of the stove's top. The small red flames danced with merriment as they licked the steel and cooked the shrimp meat. Kirill smiled as he flipped the steaks and they sizzled up again.

He heard the sound of the bed spring creek and he thumbed the strap on his holster that ran over the back of his pistol. He glanced over his shoulder at the alien woman; she had pushed herself of the bed and was rubbing her eyes. She had yet to see him or the room that they were in; he drew his pistol and positioned himself across from her, his weapon at the ready.

Liara felt herself wake and she sighed, _that was all a dream it was just a bad dream_ she thought to herself as she began to become aware of her surroundings. She was laying down on something soft, a warm weight was on top of her and her hands felt it as she brushed her hands against it. It was soft but something about it seemed off as it didn't feel like the blanket on her bed on the _Discovery_. The Asari slowly sat up and felt a sharp pain in her ribs as she used her arms to push herself up grimacing from the pain in her side. _I'm okay, I'm going to open my eyes and be on the ship. Tali just got me a different blanket is all_ she told herself as she rubbed her eyes. It was then that she noticed the smell of something sweet cooking, whatever it was it sizzled and popped making her doubt her own self-reassurance even more.

She slowly opened her eyes and gasped. She most definitely was not in the _Discovery _with its clean walls, soft lights and clean air. She looked around her at the yellowed steel walls, the rust spots and stains covered them. The only light was coming from a few candle lit lanterns that hung from the ceiling by wire. Another bed, one of the only familiar looking things in the room, was at the far end of the narrow room. She moved her eyes down looking at her own bed as the other one was dirty with stains and a dirty, brown blanket covered her. She looked disgusted as she looked up and to her left; she saw a box looking thing with a glass window behind which a small fire danced. On top of it was a steel plate that the meat she smelled was cooking. Her eyes continued to scan till she saw it, her eyes grew wide and her heart rate raced as her breathing started to go crazy.

Liara jumped out of her skin and she scrambled back trying to distance herself from the thing. She pressed her back against the wall and curled up her eyes still wide and locked on the alien. It stood taller than her; some sort of fur or hair covered its head and hung down around its face. The hair was messy and dark color almost pitches black, it looked oily as if unclean. The creature's face had small hairs that covered what she guessed was its jaw, she was able to make out a lot of the aliens features due to the fact it looked like an Asari only more masculine.

Liara glanced it over quickly, trying to take in all the details about it. The creature's arms were exposed as its shirt had no sleeves, the things left arm was covered in markings of some sort. She could see definition of muscles beneath its skin and she knew that if the alien really wanted to he could over power her. Held in its hand was a strange weapon, she didn't know what it was but the shape of it was evidently a weapon. Her eyes found it and what she saw there frightened her, it had dangerous eyes. The alien's eyes had the look of a hunter to them, a predator, but what was most striking about them was that they didn't match. The creatures left eyes was a bright green color and the right was a striking blue.

"By the goddess" she whispered as the two locked eyes, both familiar yet entirely alien to each other.

Garrus sat up his head was on fire and his entire body ached as moved from laying down to a sitting position. He opened his eyes and looked around him; he was in a small cage of some kind that was sticking out from a wall. He couldn't see any of the others right away, the room was dark and it was hard to see as his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. He took a breath and instantly wished that he hadn't, the air was disgusting smelling of death and who knew what else. The turian crawled his way to the front of the cage to get a better look at his surroundings. He was in a tall vertical room, a pale light came in from the top but it didn't do much to penetrate the darkness. He could see other cages and shapes inside them but he couldn't make out exactly what they were. He strained his eyes to try and make out the details of the prison as the only logical conclusion is that is what he was in.

What he saw as more of the prison came into focus horrified the turian. In the center of the room, suspended from rope or cable was the bodies of the same type of aliens that had taken him and the others hostage. Around the prison were more cages and inside them were more of the strange Asari looking aliens. Many of them looked dead or as if they should be dead. Garrus's mouth dropped as he took it all in, this wasn't a prison it was a nightmare.

"Garrus?" came a soft voice from the cage next to him. Garrus looked over and saw Tali kneeling in the cage next to him. He could see her glowing Quarain eyes in the dark of the prison.

"Yeah, do you see any other the others Tali?" Garrus asked as he checked around him.

"No, I am scared"

"I know, me to" Garrus whispered as he checked himself over for anything that the hostile aliens hadn't take from him "we got to get out of here"

"How?" Tali asked him quietly "I already tried hack but there is nothing to hack!"

"Damn it, great" Garrus grunted as he checked his wrist to see if his Omni tool was still there. _Oh thank the spirits_ he thought as he felt the small chip still in place on the slot on his armor. He looked around and didn't see any guards around so he quickly turned it on and checked its functions. In the light he could see that most of the strange aliens were looking at him with wide eyes. Their faces wide in fear, eyes wide and they were all trying to distance themselves from the turian as much as possible. Garrus quickly shut the tool down checking to see if any guards had seen it but thankfully the prison chamber was still only full of the prisoners.

"Tali, I have an idea"

"What is it Garrus?" Tali asked him keeping her voice low.

"Omni-tools have wielding functions on some models including mine" Garrus told her as he grabbed the first set of bars, and pulled the omni-tool back up "I'm going to cut myself out then you"

"Okay, I'll keep watch" Tali whispered to him. The Quarain looked up at the center platform that was connected to a host of some kind. She watched with baited breath praying to anyone that would hear her silent cries for help that the guards wouldn't come back. Tali heard the sound of a torch next to her and she glanced over as Garrus began to cut his way out. She held her breath as he popped on bar after the next.

Garrus made sure to grab the bars to not let them fall as he cut them out of the cage. He finished with the last one of the steel rods and set it down next to him. The turian pulled him out and stepped lightly as he could manage down onto the catwalk that ran along the level of cages. He grabbed two of the bars and looked at them; they were solid and didn't have any rust beyond the surface. He slide the two bars into a pouch on his leg as he crouched low and shuffled his way quietly over to Tail's cage.

"Stand back Tali" He said as he began to cut "would hate to cut your suit off"

"Trust me, a rupture here would kill me in seconds" the Quarain whispered as her slide back from the front of the cage. Garrus began to cut, he focused on what he was doing and didn't hear the footsteps above him.

"Garrus!" Tali hissed causing the turian to stop. Garrus looked up at her as she pointed to the elevator; the turian whipped his head back and saw one of the aliens in the lift as it began to descend to their level. Garrus quickly looked for a spot to hide and he found one right underneath Tail's cage. He quickly crawled onto the large steel beam and waited in the shadows. The beam was what was holding the catwalk up and he could see them all around the room as he looked for options.

"Tali, we are going to get out of this" Garrus whispered to comfort her "I promise you"

Tali just nodded as she watched the lift stop not far from them at a bridge that went into the center of the room. The alien pushed a small gate open and stepped out onto the walkway; the creature glanced around before he started his way towards Tali. The Quarain was frightened as the hulking alien walked towards her. It had a weapon in it's handed, a rifle of some kind, and he looked as though he knew how use it well.

The alien walked over to Tail's cage and looked at her. Tali stared right back at it her heart beating fast as she held her breath scared out of her mind about what the creature would do. It chuckled to itself before saying something in some sort of strange lunged before it turned away from her. What happened next made her almost scream in shock but she managed to keep her head but only just.

Garrus grabbed one of the steel rods from his leg pouch and looked at the ends. One of them was slanted and pointed on one side, he growled low and under his breath as he got a firm grip on his make shift weapon. The alien turned away to move down the row of cages but before he could take a step Garrus was on him. The turian sprung out from the darkness, his free hand quickly wrapped around the creatures head and covered what Garrus hoped was its mouth. He pulled it in tight to his chest as he brought the steel straight up into the things head from under its jaw. The rod stopped when it hit the top of the alien's skull.

Warm red blood flowed over Garrus's hand as it drained from the alien's neck. The river of red slashed on the floor as the turian ripped his makeshift weapon free. He looked up at Tali whose eyes were wide as she starred at him. Garrus quickly went back to cutting the cage bars with his omni-tool's torch making sure to do it at an angle so they could use them as weapons.

"Come on" Garrus told Tali as the last bar fell free "we got to move now Tali"

The Quarain was still visible shaken as she took Garrus's hand and stepped out on to the catwalk. Garrus grabbed the strange rifle from the ground and looked it over; it only took him a few moments to understand how it worked. He hit a latch and the magazine popped out and he looked at the rounds before slotting it back in. Tali stood off to the side her arms crossed and shaking as the turian stripped the body of anything useful. He grabbed more magazines for the gun and put them away as he stood up. In Garrus's hand was a pistol of some kind, he was holding it out to Tali. She looked up at him her eyes pleading for something, anything other than what was going on. Garrus thrust the pistol at her and eyes snapped up to his eyes, they were set and hard but she could see the sympathy in them. She took the weapon slow, its weight strange in her hand as she got accustomed to its grip. She flicked a switch on the side and a cylinder of some kind fell out on a hinge. She saw six gold colored circles in it, the Quarain but together in her engineers mind what she was holding. She flicked her wrist and the cylinder snapped into place. She looked up at Garrus who gave her a nod, his eyes steel and his face cold. Tali took a deep breath before she looked him in the eye determined to survive and gave him a nod. The two started off together in the dark to find their fellow captive explorers.

Garrus took the lead with Tali trailing behind him; they searched all the cages on their level but couldn't find anyone. Garrus waved for her to follow him as he walked off to the lift making sure to keep his newly acquired weapon at the ready. The two climbed into the lift and Tali hit the only switch on the contraption and they started up to the next level. The lift shuddered to a halt at the next of the four levels up the prison.

Tali stepped off first as Garrus made sure that he checked above them for any hostiles, thankfully there weren't any. He maneuvered the strange rifle back down as he stepped from the lift and onto the catwalk. The weapon had strange wooden grips and a stock but it looked as if it operated simply which meant it was reliable. Tali heard the sound of a voice speaking and it was speaking in a language she knew. Garrus heard it to and he quickly ran with Tali over to an archway of some kind and peaked inside.

Mordin was standing in the middle of the room, three bodies of the strange aliens lay around him and the cage behind him was cut open. The two ran over to the Salarain who was muttering under his breath as he studied one of the alien's weapons. It was two tubes with a trigger group underneath and a wooden butt stock that had a built in grip on it.

"Mordin am I glad to see you" Garrus said happily as he clapped the Salarain on the shoulder.

"Good to see you to, thought I was only one" Mordin rattled off "good to be wrong for once"

"Do you know where any of the others are?" Tali asked as she grabbed more ammo off the dead aliens. Garrus looked hopefully at the doctor who just shook his head. Tali sighed as she punched the ground cursing as she did.

"No time for anger, we must find the rest of the group in prison" Mordin said as he checked his captured weapon "retrieves equipment as well"

"What about if they were taken elsewhere?" Tali asked Mordin shocked that they may leave people behind.

"If not in prison, assume they are dead" Mordin told her as he moved towards the prison chamber "We must move Tali'Zorah"

"Mordin is right; as much as it hurts he is right" Garrus said defeated "we have to get out of here and reach the crash"

"Okay" Tali sadly replied "okay"

Kirill stood facing the alien woman as she pinned herself against the wall trying to get away from him. Her eyes were wide with fear as she breathed heavy and fast. Her eyes locked with his and saw the terror in the blue of her eyes. Kirill sighed as he took and slow drifted the revolver in his hand back to his leg. The alien watched him closely as he slide the pistol back into its holster and held his hands out showing he didn't have anything in his hand. The alien girl looked at him curiously her eyes studying him closely, watching him.

"Kirill" He said pointing to his chest. The alien looked puzzled for a second before her eyes brightened as she understood what he meant.

"Liara" the alien told him pointing to herself. Kirill nodded, he thought about how we could communicate he meant no harm to her now that he seen she didn't want to eat him or something. He looked around but didn't see anything he could use to help him. Then an idea popped in his head. He pointed at her making her flinch, and then he punched himself lightly in the leg before waving his hand.

Liara looked at the alien that had identified itself as Kirill; she didn't know if that was its species or its name. The alien pointed at her making her flinch back but then it punched its self and waved its hands across its chest as if he was saying stop or no. Liara looked puzzled for a second as her mind raced to put the message together. It clicked _its means me no harm_ she told herself and she let out the breath she had been holding. She smiled at the creature which it understood as it's strangely Asari face went from being skeptical and dangerous to kind. To her surprise it also smiled at before it turned to the stove thing.

Liara watched it closely as it scooped up the meat from the steel top of the stove and put it on two plates. The Kirill walked back to her and held out a plate to her. She curiously studied the meat before taking the plate; she took a whiff of it. It smelled sweet and fresh, she looked up at the alien who was sitting in a chair across from her. It had a knife in its hand and was cutting a piece of the meat off before it shoved the chunk in to its mouth. Liara felt her stomach growl and she looked at the meat before she gulped and picked up the knife on her plate. The steel utensil cut through the cooked meat with ease and she stabbed the small piece she had cut off and put it in her mouth. She expected it to taste bad but it was not what she expected.

The meat was as sweet as it smelled and had some sort of spices on it that made it taste a bit like her favorite sauce for noodles. Her eyes lit up and she let go of her lady like discipline. The Asari grabbed the knife and attacked the hunk of meat like a rabid varren. She heard a sound that reminded her of laughter and looked up to see the alien holding its side. A bit of the stringy meat hunk from her mouth as she realized that the alien was laughing at her. She slurped the meat down, her cheeks a bright pink now as she finished the steak with more poise and manners.

When the two finished they looked at each other studying each other as if they were two varren or dogs that had just meet for the first time. Liara was trying to figure out how to communicate with the Alien beyond more than sloppy sign language and one word at a time. She had heard about how Asari diplomats had been trained to use the bonding process to learn the language of newly found species. She had never melded with anyone before but she had to give it a shot so she could learn the alien's language.

Kirill stood up and walked over to her. She watched him closely as he reached down and grabbed the plate. She had to act quickly; her heart raced as she reached out and grabbed the aliens arm. Kirill looked at her and their eyes meet, in that split second Liara saw confusion before she said the words and joined her nervous system to its.

"Embrace eternity"

Kirill felt the blue girl's hand grab his arm and he looked at her confused thinking she didn't want him to take the plate. His eyes meet her and he saw determination in her eyes before she spoke. The alien's voice was beautiful and the language she spoke sounded fluid and elegant. Kirill watched in shock as her eyes turned pitch black and suddenly he felt strange. He slammed his eyes shut hoping to break eye contact to stop whatever it was but instead of finding himself in darkness he found himself elsewhere.

He looked around him, he was standing on a black shadow while what looked like purple lines danced around him like lighting. They seemed to pulse as he moved and that's when he saw her, the alien. He reached to hip as if the grab his weapon but found that it wasn't there. He growled as he looked up at the alien anger in his voice as he yelled at her.

"What the hell is going?!"

The alien stepped back holding her hands up as she closed her eyes and looked deep in tought. Kirill held his head as he felt a strange feeling, like something was moving in his brain, and what happened next shocked him.

"Don…doesn't hurt me" he heard a voice saw and he opened his eyes to see the alien still standing their hands up. Around them danced words, phrases and letters as though they were shadows dancing from a fire.

"Did, did you just speak?" Kirill asked her shocked at what was going.

"Yes, I can understand you now" Liara told him "and speak your language"

Suddenly the vision in front of him went black and Kirill opened his eyes to see Liara still holding his arm and looking at him.

"Did it work?" She asked in perfect Russian.

Garrus quickly closed the door behind the group of survivors as they ran out of the prison and into the blackness of the tunnel ahead of them. They had found Trexo in a cage on the top level but he was in bad shape so Garrus had taken charge for now. Garrus signaled for Tali, Trexo and Mordin to stay quiet and low as they moved up to tunnel. He heard voices ahead of them but didn't see anyone, _must be echoes from up ahead_ he thought to himself as he lead them along the darkened walkways on the side of the tunnels. It was pitch black in the dark tunnels.

Tali walked silently behind the two more experienced men making sure that she checked her back; the tunnel frightened her and made her skin crawl in its empty blackness. She saw a warm glow of a fire around the bend and Garrus held up a hand for them to stop. The turian reached in his pocket grabbing some of the sharp steel rods that they had got from cutting their way out of the prison cages.

"Take one; keep it quiet" Garrus whispered "Trexo stay back"

"Alright ill hang back" Trexo groaned as he held his side "You signal me when it's clear"

Mordin nodded understanding as he took one and activated a cloaking field. Tali grabbed one of them and followed the still visible turian along the path towards the fire. She heard a groan and looked up at a bridge that crossed the gap above them and saw Mordin slowly lowering a body to the ground. He was struggling with the weight as he set the alien corpse down on the bridge. The Quarain gulped as she looked to her right were Garrus was point his weapon and saw four of the aliens gathered around a table.

"Tali, stay low and in the shadows" Garrus whispered as low as he could. Tali barley heard him over the sound of laugher and muffled screams. She looked at him confused before he waved her to move.

"Go clear out the area behind us" he hissed. Tali gulped as she looked around and saw Mordin on the balcony holding a rifle now of some kind. She sighed as she slowly moved quiet as she could managed across the tunnel and towards the out cove area. She kept a firm grip on the steel shank and her captured pistol in her hand. She came in the first room and didn't see anyone but the noises were coming from a doorway to her right. She peaked around the opening and saw an awful sight.

Aeine lay on the one bed in the room, her hands bound above her head and her armor was gone on her chest and back. The Asari was laying on her back as one of the aliens laughed as he whipped her making her scream in pain. Tali felt her anger rise and she ran at the creature who wasn't expecting her to barrel into him like a krogan. She took her make shift knife and plunged it down hard into the aliens face. She kept stabbing it, over and over again as tears ran down her face under her mask. She didn't even hear the sounds of Mordin and Garrus opening fire on the four aliens around the table all she could hear was the thud as the steel rod buried itself into the creature's chest over and over again.

Tali yelled as she threw the shank away it clattered into a shelve full of boxes behind her. She looked down at her hands to see them covered in dark red blood that dripped of her suit. She started to hyperventilate, her eyes wide in shock and horror at what she had just done to something, someone. Her hands shook as she tried to stand up and but her legs were shaking beneath her.

Garrus ran over to her and grabbed ahold of her shaking her shoulders, but she just stood there in shock. He looked down and saw the body of the alien, its chest looked like ground meat as blood pooled around it and its face was caved in from her shoving her shiv between its eyes.

"Tali snap out of it" Garrus said shaking her. Mordin ran over to Aeine and cut her lose using a knife he had got off one of the dead aliens.

"I'm sorry Garrus" Tali said shuddering as she looked at him. The turian had a pack of some kind in his back and in his hands was an avenger rifle.

"It's alright" Garrus said as he put a pack down by her feet with a rifle attached to it "we found our supplies on the table, the aliens were studying it"

Tali just nodded as she picked the pack up, her hands still shaking as she did. Aeine walked over to the two of them and looked down at the alien then up at Tali.

"Nice work Quarain" the Asari said congratulatory. Garrus put a hand on her shoulder making her look up at him.

"Come on we are almost out of here, hold it together a little longer" the turian told her comfortingly.

"I'll try" Tali said as she followed Mordin and Aeine out of the out coves and to the main door at the end of the tunnel. Garrus waved at Trexo who was hidden down the tunnel and the black skinned turian come limping their way. Tali looked at the massive door, it resembled a ships hanger door but smaller. She watched as it opened, the massive steel walls shuddering and groaning as they slide apart. Up next to her walked Garrus and Aeine, Mordin and Trexo stood behind them as they stared into the inky blackness of the metro. The others started first and Tali watched them pass her before she took a deep, shaky breath and stepped out into the unknown.


End file.
